Ben Elton heads to Cambridge and says: ‘Forget AI - we should worry about AS’
Following the success of Ben Elton’s critically-acclaimed sold-out UK tour in 2019, which marked his return to live comedy after a 15-year hiatus, the godfather of modern stand-up is going back on the road with his new show, Authentic Stupidity.
Ben, 65, says: “Since my last live tour, a whole new existential threat has emerged to threaten humanity.
“Apparently, artificial intelligence is going to destroy us all! Well I reckon our real problem isn’t artificial intelligence, it’s good old-fashioned Authentic Stupidity! Forget AI, it’s AS we need to be worrying about!”
He adds: “I’ve spent 45 years in comedy, exploring the outer limits of human idiocy, and my mission has never been more timely.”
Ben Elton, stand-up comedian, novelist, playwright, actor and writer, first exploded into the national consciousness back in the 1980s, hosting Channel 4’s ground-breaking Saturday Live.
His award-winning career now spans more than four decades and includes other beloved television shows such as The Young Ones, Blackadder, The Thin Blue Line, and Upstart Crow, as well as West End plays (Popcorn, Upstart Crow), West End musicals (We Will Rock You, The Beautiful Game, Close-Up: The Twiggy Musical), best-selling novels (Stark, Dead Famous, Two Brothers) and feature films (Maybe Baby, Three Summers, All Is True).
In October last year, Ben returned to Channel 4 for a one-off revival of Friday Night Live.
Channel 4 also broadcasted a special recording of Ben’s last stand-up tour, Ben Elton Live, in December 2023.
Having married an Australian musician, Sophie Gare, in 1994, Elton holds dual nationality between the two countries and is now primarily resident in western Australia.
The Sunday Times says of Elton: “Just give him a stage and a microphone and Ben Elton is the best – no contest”, while the Evening Standard enthuses: “There is nothing, absolutely nothing, to beat Ben Elton live!”
Come and see what all of the fuss is about when Ben brings Authentic Stupidity to the Cambridge Corn Exchange on Wednesday, 11 September.
Tickets, priced £35.50, including a £3 booking fee, are available from cornex.co.uk. For more on Ben Elton – and to check on further tour dates, both at home and abroad (he has gigs lined up as far away as Singapore) – go to benelton.live.
